Ponyfic Roundup 475: Gone But Not Forgotten

Read it Later story count: 95 (-2)

Words read this week: 33,137

As I mentioned at the end of last week's Ponyfic Roundup, this time I'm looking at stories by authors who have left Fimfiction far behind. Not a single one of them has logged in there since the end of 2019. I've deliberately chosen a mix of the (at least once) very horsewords-famous, such as AbsoluteAnonymous, and authors I'd never come across before, such as Mourning Zephyr. Off we go!

Tirek's Prison by Terrasora
The Little Mermare by AbsoluteAnonymous
A Sun Without A Moon by Mourning Zephyr
Divenire by The Wizard of Words
Abracadaver by Obselescence

★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 3 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

Tirek's Prison by Terrasora
Tirek and Other
G4; Tragedy; 1k words; May 2014; Teen

Tirek lies in his prison in Tartarus, stripped of his power and alone, save for the company of his brother.

After his defeat, Tirek is not so much bothered by his captivity or the (relatively light) shackles that bind him. No, what he despises most is that Scorpan is there with him. An interesting take on Tartarus, one that feels quite convincing, especially when we learn something about Scorpan's presence. Considering the brevity, the world-building is fairly compelling. ★★★

The Little Mermare by AbsoluteAnonymous
Lyra, Bon-Bon and Other
G4; Dark/Tragedy; 6k words; Jun 2012; Mature (Gore)

Lyra is a kelpie.

If you know your real-world mythology, you may already have an inkling of why the tags for this fic are what they are. It's certainly a grim tale, and what happens to that "Other" character is very much at the centre of that. Lyra is always, always hungry, though she has music to play and a hidden lake where she can be herself. But when the opportunity presents itself to feed properly, well... I take PaulAsaran's point that at a crucial moment the narrative has an overlong diversion. A shame, as it's a worryingly plausible fic otherwise. Top-end three. ★★★

A Sun Without A Moon by Mourning Zephyr
Celestia and Luna
G4; Slice of Life; 5k words; Aug 2013; Everyone

After Celestia humiliates her at a dinner, Luna storms off and ends up snooping around in her sister's room. There, she stumbles upon the journal Celestia kept immediately after the banishment of Nightmare Moon.

This author's only published ponyfic. It was featured on EqD at its height, so I had high hopes, and to a fair extent they were fulfilled. The focus stays closely on Luna as she reads Celestia's diary, and I like how her initial confusion turns to anger at the apparent lack of mentions of her banishment, but then to something else again as she reads further still. I'm generally not fond of strikethrough in journalfic, and it feels a little too artificial here, too, though it doesn't do much actual harm. A sweet ending, though perhaps a little too obviously going for the feels to perfectly hit that spot. Another high three. ★★★

Divenire by The Wizard of Words
Twilight and Celestia
G4; Romance/Slice of Life; 14k words; Oct 2013; Everyone

After centuries of being alive, an eon of guiding ponies, Celestia must now face the day she long dreaded, but long knew would come. After all, there are few secrets she can keep from her precious student, and fewer still she wants to.

Still new to alicornhoof, Twilight has questions for the older princess. One in particular: why, unlike Celestia and Luna, is she not immortal? We have to take on trust the fact that Twilight is mortal, which is frustrating. I can easily see the conflict between Twi wanting to know everything and the much older Tia thinking perhaps that isn't the best approach – but Celestia does explain. The reason will probably divide readers, as it depends on how you see the diarchs in the first place. That word leads me to the fic's biggest problem: the writing is really quite rough. Celestia is described as "the diarch" about a thousand times, even occasionally "the alabaster diarch", while especially later poor editing/proofing gives some near-incomprehensible lines ("Said pony smiled wirily") that make reading a slog. As for that [Romance] tag, yes there's TwiLestia here, albeit not a lot. But on the whole, a potentially fascinating setup largely wasted. Low two. ★★

Abracadaver by Obselescence
Twilight, Spike and Mane Six [and Celestia]
G4; Dark/Comedy; 7k words; Sep 2014; Teen

Completing Starswirl the Bearded's final spell may have had some unindeaded—er, UNINTENDED consequences.

In which Twilight Sparkle discovers that said spell turns her into a lich. This is a very silly alternative take on the S3 finale, and it's highly entertaining. Whether it's Twi herself casually dealing with her eyes falling out, Rarity's reaction at being asked to get out her sewing kit or Spike's deadpan acceptance of everything, this is just plain funny. If you liked Nosflutteratu (PR 456) as I did, then I suspect you'll like this. It's not quite as good in my book, so a low-end four rather than a high-end one, but I had buckets of blood fun with it. ★★★★

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Another Spotlight edition next week! This one will be for a story that's been on the fringes of my consciousness for absolutely years – it was published between 2015 and 2017. Several times I've had it on my longlist for a week, but every time something else has taken its place. Not any more!

Spark Visions of Twilight by Tangerine Blast